The laboratory of Pegraf 7 is top of the line. E has a full staff of highly qualified scientists hand chosen by the MDDS to complete their clandestine work. They work in secret because the general durine population is unaware of the experiments being done to those who have been sentenced to labor. The general population would be outraged to learn about the experiments on laborers because they do not condone experimentation on any durine without permission, and the secret program is compulsory for laborers.
The MDDS uses its secret program to test cutting edge medical science and over the course of the program, thousands of durine have died, though the research pioneered by the program is the reason that Druinte medical science is among the most sophisticated in the universe.
“2-231-6 is ready for examination.”
Pegraf sits in the conference room of eris secret laboratory; it is located inside of a rectangular building that is small in comparison to the pyramid of the Hall for Biological Sciences that dominates the area. There are other smaller buildings like the one that Pegraf inhabits and it is a community all its on. E is reviewing eris digital reader when e is interrupted by one of eris assistants.
“Excellent,” Pegraf says with a perverse smile.
Examination means that the subject is vivisected and samples are gathered to compare against those gathered in previous examinations. The Druintes are well known for their enthusiasm for science and experimentation and they love an opportunity to examine something closely. Their technology allows them to sustain the life of a subject while they remove and examine organs, though, because experimentation on other Druintes is rare, their care at dulling the pain of their subjects is lackadaisical. Many of the forced labor subjects are never administered anything to alleviate pain.
The inside of the rectangular building is five floors. The first is a reception area, the second is the conference room, and the other floors collectively make up Pegraf’s lab. E takes an elevator up to the top floor where he continues his examination of 2-231-6, also known as God.
The floorspace is expansive. God is strapped to a bed in the center and surrounded by sophisticated equipment that creates a moat of technology in a circle around erim. There are two other forced labor subjects in beds and surrounded by machines in both far corners of the room. One of the durine’s skin is removed and e is unconscious due to the shock of the pain. The skin is being stretched by two robotic arms and another pushes it in the middle. The other durine’s limbs have been removed and they are locked into machines that perform stress tests. Scientists stand around them recording data from the various robots and computers onto their personal digital devices.
Pegraf approaches God who is intact and awake. The two smile at one another.
“I was wondering when we would be starting on this fine day,” God jokes.
“How do you do it?” Pegraf asks as e scrubs eris hands in the mobile sink. After e dries them, e covers them in a latex spray that forms gloves on eris hands. “How do you smile when I am here to rip you apart and put you back together?”
“Like this,” God says and e cheeses as wide as eris cheeks will allow. “I look forward to the putting back together part, you can’t get that feeling anywhere.”
Pegraf smiles down at erim. E is playing a role; e is an undercover social durine who has plans for God that sees erim as the savior of the social population that is struggling to adjust to their forced integration into mainstream society, but for now e is playing the role of the giddy scientists who mines the bodies of durines who were cast out of society for secrets that eris peers and forebears had overlooked.
“Besides,” God says, “how interesting is this? Working with you has been an immense pleasure.” There is no Filot word for “flirting”, there is no custom in mainstream society to support the concept, but God seems to flirt with Pegraf. They have spent everyday together since God arrived at the facility, and they are both very typical Druintes, interested in scientific inquiry above all else.
The scientist gets to work and eris subject grits eris teeth against the pain.
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